Week 5 Reflection - Primary School Experience

During this week, I go a chance to get more classes in the primary section. With the help of Miss Philips, the primary deputy headteacher, I was able to get observation opportunity in Year 1/2 (Phonics), Year 3 (English), Year 4 (English and Guided Reading), and Year 5 (English and Guided Reading).

The Primary School Experience 

The experience in primary school was somewhat different from that in secondary school.

Firstly, the numbers were a bit higher than in secondary, thus, bringing a whole new dimension of behavior control in the classroom, which I shall discuss shortly.

Secondly, style of learning was a bit different. From time to time, learners had to change their sitting positions. I noticed the effectiveness of the front carpet when telling stories. Inviting the children in front to listen to a story is an effective way of achieving the receptive literacy skill of listening.

Classroom management 

What I noted as the greatest challenge in the primary section is class management. The high number and the age of the children are factors that when combined make it hard for the teachers to effectively control the class. I was impressed at some of the techniques employed by the teachers to command attention whenever there was a disquiet among learners. For example, counting from five to zero with a warning that a yellow card will be given to any student talking after the countdown ends. I found this method as extremely effective in in commanding attention.

What I also noted is that the teacher has a greater task of balancing the different levels of learners in the same classroom. This moderates the pace of teaching in a way that all learners have to be catered for in the classroom. Proper use of the readily available teaching assistants is also one effective way of handling the different learners in a classroom.

Take away:::

• Effective organization of the classroom is a key element to achieving success in the primary schools
• A teacher simply has to know more than just one single way of managing behavior in the classroom. According to Bruner (1966), over-reliance on extrinsic motivation is not an ideal way of keeping learners motivated. Therefore, I propose intrinsic motivation to help learners manage themselves better. Since I am new to teaching in an international school, I can only make theoretical inferences on how to deal with such situations. With that, I find Seligman et al., (2009) theory of positive education as an ideal way of dealing with that situation. You can find my sentiments on this theory here.